If that's true, it'd be odd that Canadian Muslims are getting more conservative in the younger generation (in contrast to the American survey stats in my previous post), while American Muslims are getting more liberal.

In the article you mention, there's discussion about how some young Canadian Muslims are getting radicalized because they feel like they "don't belong" in Canadian society and stigmatization leads them to cling stronger to a religious identity. But if that's the case, shouldn't that be the case for the US too, since outwardly at least the impression is that there's more stigmatization to being a young Muslim stateside growing up post 9/11?

There are also stats that show that the percentage of Muslim women wearing some type of head covering has gone up since 2010, and that the younger a Muslim woman is, the more likely she is to cover up. Unfortunately I can't find the article I read on this a few months ago.

That, and being more personally familiar with the issue beyond feel-good ideals of diversity usually gives people a bit more confidence and passion to be vocal in their opinion (plus, they can't really be called a racist).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

In the case of hijabs even if it's not everyone I'd say in Quebec and Ontario the group of wearers tilts fairly heavily towards younger women. And certainly under 40 or 50. You do see older women with hijabs but not that many relative to how many younger ones you see - perhaps it's because Muslims tend to be newer, younger arrivals or younger Canadian-born?

I've noticed this as well, and that it seems particularly common amongst teenage and college-aged women. This suggests to me that it's either not really a voluntary thing for many of them - or that there's more acceptance of them today and so they just feel more free to wear the hijab than older generations of North American Muslim women did. Perhaps a bit of both.

Admittedly, while a pretty big chunk of my social circle are of (generally non-practicing, or moderate Shia) Muslim or Middle-Eastern background, I've never really had any close relationships with hijab-wearers and the more religiously-minded to have a better understanding of their motivations

I've noticed this as well, and that it seems particularly common amongst teenage and college-aged women. This suggests to me that it's either not really a voluntary thing for many of them - or that there's more acceptance of them today and so they just feel more free to wear the hijab than older generations of North American Muslim women did. Perhaps a bit of both.

Admittedly, while a pretty big chunk of my social circle are of (generally non-practicing, or moderate Shia) Muslim or Middle-Eastern background, I've never really had any close relationships with hijab-wearers and the more religiously-minded to have a better understanding of their motivations

Would you say that the hijab-wearers are less likely to want to mingle with you? (No idea if this is true - just hypothesizing as to why you would have fewer contacts with them.)

From my observations, hijab wearing young women here don't just hang out with their own "kind", and it's actually quite rare to see a bunch of girls or women who are all wearing hijabs. It's almost always a mix, and presumably some of the non-hijab girls are Muslims too but just don't wear that. But groups of girls or young women where at least one has a hijab are almost never male-female mixed. Contrary to many other groups of young people you see.

, I've never really had any close relationships with hijab-wearers and the more religiously-minded to have a better understanding of their motivations

I just went and checked out the Facebook page of the closest hijab wearing person I know (personally and geographically). I don't frequent her more than casually - I see her maybe a half-dozen times a year. Her sibling is one of my kids' friends and they have a fairly big age difference. I also know her parents socially quite well.

Anyway, I wasn't quite prepared for her Facebook page. I wouldn't call it radical but it's most definitely militant. It's all stuff about defending Islam against attacks, and also news reports of incidents targeting Muslims (both serious and not-so-serious) or stuff like Bill 62 and similar measures in other countries.

I have no idea if her parents are aware of this, and don't even know if they'd care. She's around 20 years old. But geez if that was my kid I'd find it a bit disturbing. But maybe I have different values...

I don't think immigrant social conservatism persists very long in North America -- the North American culture is very appealing, and an attractive culture to "assimilate" into.

The world is a lot smaller now... for the 10 or 20 or 40 or however many per cent inclined to cling to the old country's culture, it's easy to do it these days. You could be physically present in, say, Edmonton but in reality living your life in Amman.

There are also stats that show that the percentage of Muslim women wearing some type of head covering has gone up since 2010, and that the younger a Muslim woman is, the more likely she is to cover up. Unfortunately I can't find the article I read on this a few months ago.

I suspect that if you polled the student union hijab wearers/activists, you wouldn't find that they held hard-line conservative viewpoints on, say, LGBT issues. If they do think this way, they probably keep their opinions to themselves a lot because they would cause friction with many potential allies.

I suspect that if you polled the student union hijab wearers/activists, you wouldn't find that they held hard-line conservative viewpoints on, say, LGBT issues. If they do think this way, they probably keep their opinions to themselves a lot because they would cause friction with many potential allies.

While they may pay lip service to the notion that homosexuality should not be repressed in wider society as part of their activism, I honestly doubt that many young women who wear hijabs out of religious conviction would go as far as to say that Islam should show more openness to gays.

Luckily for them people with microphones rarely ask them those kinds of questions.